Here’s Hoping For Simon

Sean O’Driscoll is hopeful of having Simon Cox available for tomorrow’s City Ground clash with Sheffield Wednesday (kick-off 3pm).

The Forest striker set alarm bells ringing when he limped out of the Republic of Ireland’s friendly defeat by Greece in midweek with a foot injury.

But boss O’Driscoll is confident that he will be available to face The Owls and has revealed that Daniel Ayala and Dan Harding may also return to his plans.

“I think Simon is ok,” he said.

“He has been carrying a knock on his foot for some time and he just got kicked in exactly the same place.

“We’ll send him for an X-ray as a precaution but the message from Simon was that he would be ok.”

Central defender Ayala has missed four games with a hamstring problem but has been back in training this week, while Harding missed last weekend’s trip to Leicester with a hamstring injury.

He explained: “Dan has been out on the grass and stepped up his training yesterday. We’ll see how he reacts today but he could come back into the squad.

“Daniel has trained all week. He’s not quite comfortable with his hamstring but we think it’s more of a neural thing now.

“He’s due to have an injection today just to settle it down and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be involved in the squad.”

Tickets for the visit of Sheffield Wednesday are still available in person at the Ticket Office, on-line at www.nffcretail.com or by calling 0871 226 1980 (calls are charged at 10p per minute, mobile rates may vary).